


Step Softly in These Woods

by Moriavis



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alpha!Len, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Beta!Barry, Gen, not a/b/o
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 06:57:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6319174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moriavis/pseuds/Moriavis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry wanders into the wrong territory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Step Softly in These Woods

**Author's Note:**

  * For [saekhwa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saekhwa/gifts).



> This is just a short birthday fic for [saekhwa](http://archiveofourown.org/users/saekhwa), because she's awesome and I love her. She asked for werewolves, and I've tried my best to deliver.
> 
> [dungeonmarm](http://archiveofourown.org/users/dungeonmarm) as always, let himself be conned into beta, and I love him too!!

~*~

Barry whined low in his throat as he snuffled the ground, pawing at the dirt. Caitlin and Cisco had been behind him, he thought, but he had a terrible tendency to bound ahead as soon as he changed. Joe had been trying to break him of it for years, but there was something about the first shift every month that left him giddy and overwhelmed.

He raised his long snout and howled, his ears pricking at the sound of a response a few miles to the west, and he gamely loped forward, pausing every few steps to smell something new and interesting. He didn’t get out of Central very often, used to the smell of metal and gasoline and so many people. As it was, they were just at the edges of Harrison’s territory, and Barry was excited to be out after the long car ride from the science symposium in Keystone.

He howled again, heard a repeated call, a little further away than the last time, and he whined low in his throat in annoyance before he spun around. There was the gleam of eyes among the trees, and Barry froze, growling a little in nervous warning. Joe had always warned him about being downwind, warned him about not keeping an eye on his surroundings, but it wasn’t always necessary in the city and that—

That looked like a big freaking wolf. Barry hunkered down onto his belly, and the wolf growled, loud and long. Barry could see his yellow eyes, the stocky bent of his back. He was easily twice Barry's size, and had obviously seen better days, thick burn scars along his sides, barely hidden by bristling clumps of fur. Barry flattened his ears to his head, making himself as small as possible. Maybe he’d let Barry go if he didn’t seem interesting.

“Mick.” Barry’s ears twitched at the sound of a human voice, and he flicked his eyes over to the left to see a man push through the foliage. “Chill out. It’s just a kid.”

The wolf—Mick—growled again, low and threatening, and Barry whined, inching closer to the other guy. He smelled lycan too, and Barry took in the other wolves that filtered into the clearing. The new man was human-formed, wearing a long sleeved shirt, jeans and hiking boots, but it was obvious that he was the pack alpha, with the way the other wolves deferred to him.

He screwed up. He so screwed up. Caitlin and Cisco were going to find pieces of him in the morning, scattered all over the woods.

“Come here, kid.” The alpha sat on an outcropping of rock near the edge of the clearing and extended his hand. Barry perked up a little at that, his tail wagging in the grass. He kept Mick in his peripheral vision and made his way over to the alpha. “Good boy.” He placed his hand gently on Barry’s head, scratching behind his ear. Barry grinned, letting his tongue loll out, and he sat cautiously on his haunches. “Good manners,” the man observed. “Healthy fur. You’re not a stray.”

Barry shook himself out. He wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of being human while surrounded by a strange pack, but their alpha seemed to be reasonable, sturdy and unruffled. It was difficult to force the change with the moon so strong in his blood, but the alpha didn’t move, didn’t even flinch when Barry stretched out his human legs and inched a little further away from the pack, trying to clear his head. “I’m not a stray,” Barry said, voice rough and raw from the change. “Ah. My name, it’s Barry.”

“A pleasure. Call me Len.” Len tilted his head and leaned closer, nostrils flaring as he scented Barry. Barry bared his throat obediently—it was always a little easier to get acquainted when you weren’t worried about getting your throat ripped out.

“I thought I was still in Harrison’s territory,” Barry said shyly. “I’m sorry.”

A small black wolf growled, baring her teeth, and Barry shrunk back, shooting nervous looks her way.

“Ignore Shawna,” Len said, pinning Barry with another long stare. His eyes were very blue. “We haven’t had a particularly easy time with Wells.”

“I’m not part of his pack?” Barry offered. “I’m just—back on my way to Central? Please don’t eat me?”

Len huffed a small laugh at that and shook his head. “Not in the habit of eating kids.”

“I’m twenty-five,” Barry objected. “Not really a kid.”

Len’s eyes flickered over him, and Barry was abruptly aware of his nudity in a way he usually wasn’t with other wolves. He shifted, his cheeks flushing. Len smirked, and then jerked his head off to the northwest. “Your friends are that way, Barry.”

Barry flushed at the amused, intimate way Len said his name. "Thanks?” 

“No problem.” Len stood up, and that seemed the cue for the other wolves to fade back into the trees, as silently as they had come.

Barry had so many questions he wanted to ask—who were they? What did Len look like in his true form? How had he become the alpha of such an interesting pack?—but he didn't want to wear out his welcome, intensely aware of the leniency Len had shown him. He shifted back into his wolf instead, scampering off toward the west to find Cisco and Caitlin. Maybe Joe would know more about them. He’d have to wait until he got home to find out.

~*~


End file.
